


The Way Things Are

by alba17



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-26
Updated: 2012-04-26
Packaged: 2017-11-04 08:07:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/391636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alba17/pseuds/alba17
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Working with Steve after the break up is hell.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Way Things Are

**Author's Note:**

> Written for scripps' comment_fic prompt.

Danny shuffled in at the usual time, a bit ahead of the others. He liked having the quiet to get his head together. On automatic pilot, he put the coffee filter and coffee in the machine, poured in the water and punched the button. His head throbbed. He'd had the usual insomnia, waking up at three with the nightmare. Always the same one: first the yelling, the words like knives, then the rain coming down in sheets; the phone call, Steve and the blood.

While he waited for the coffee to brew, he reviewed the files on his desk. The Clarendon case was still open; there were several witnesses to interview today. He'd slot those in later when he was more awake and Kono had come in. 

Before Isaiah was hired, Danny's desk had been weighed down with twice as many files. With Steve out, there had only been the three of them, and the workload was impossible. The only good thing was it gave him plenty to distract himself with. And he'd needed distractions, that was for sure. 

Isaiah and Chin made a good team; efficient and professional. Danny had his hands full with Kono but she was a little easier to rein in than Steve. Danny spent less time ranting about the fourth amendment these days and more time actually driving his own car.

As expected, Kono sailed in about twenty minutes later, hair damp from an early morning session riding the waves. She had that glow about her that she only got from a good workout on the water. After grabbing a cup of coffee, they went over their plan for the day, then Kono started working the phones while Danny wacked away at the endless reports for that damned child kidnapping case.

Chin called to say he and Isaiah had a lead on their case, that they'd be out most of the day. Then Kono remembered she had a court date in the afternoon. That left Danny alone in the office – he wanted Kono's input on their witnesses, so he put off those interviews until they could do them together.

Danny sat at his desk, racking his brain for something that would take him out for the afternoon. He didn't want to admit that's what he was doing, but it was. He sighed and slapped shut his calendar, deciding to head out for some lunch. The afternoon would go easier on a full stomach and maybe he could stretch the meal out for an hour or so.

He'd been back at his desk for about fifteen minutes when he heard the snick snick of Steve's wheelchair coming down the hallway. His stomach tensed and immediately he started pretending to write something. He put off looking up until the last possible moment. You think he'd be used it by now, but he wasn't. 

The snick snick sound stopped and Danny was intensely aware of Steve's presence just a few feet away. With no one else there, the office was quiet, so quiet that Steve's breathing and the pounding of his own pulse in his ears seemed unnaturally loud. 

"Hi," Steve said. "What's going on?"

Danny put up a finger, as if to say hold on a minute, while he continued writing nonsense. Finally he turned to Steve and said, "Hi. Not much. Pretty quiet. Everyone's out. I'm just catching up on some paperwork." After he made the minimum necessary amount of eye contact, Danny shifted his gaze back to his desk.

"Okay, well, I'll just go see what's on my desk," Steve said, starting to roll in that direction. His arms were still muscular because of the wheelchair.

"Yeah, I left some forms for you to sign." They were just a formality. So were the office and the desk and the couple of afternoons a week Steve came in to 'work.' 

For the next couple of hours, Danny resolutely stared at his desk and didn't get a lick of work done, despite industrious typing and scribbling. Steve's presence was like barbed wire in his consciousness. 

When Isaiah and Chin showed up at four, Danny was relieved, although he hated to admit it. Steve left soon after, wilted and grey-faced. That's the way he always looked now. 

Danny made a mental note to pick up a bottle of something eighty-proof on the way home.


End file.
